ISG Provider Lens^™ report says companies at several stages of IT transformation are engaging with service providers to develop cloud environments responsive to their needs

Private/hybrid cloud solutions are central to digital transformation initiatives at most enterprises, spanning organizations at varying levels of cloud maturity, according to a new research report published today by Information Services Group (ISG) (Nasdaq: III), a leading global technology research and advisory firm.

The 2022 ISG Provider Lens^™ Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud — Data Center Solutions and Services Archetype report finds that companies are seeking more flexible and accessible IT infrastructure as data and software become more central to their operations and business success. This is leading many to adopt hybrid models that may combine private and public clouds and internal and external data centers, depending on the needs of the organization.

“Data center outsourcing has become more than a simple cost-containment strategy,” said Jan Erik Aase, partner and global leader, ISG Provider Lens Research. “Enterprises are balancing the need for agility and scalability with security and governance concerns.”

Many companies are addressing a growing shortage of IT skills by engaging with service providers to develop private or hybrid clouds with intelligent remote monitoring and automation, the report says. These technologies allow organizations to automatically manage the requirements of the cloud infrastructure and predict and resolve problems, achieving sustained operation with a limited workforce.

The move to private and hybrid clouds is also removing network barriers and allowing enterprises to bring computing to the edge for IoT infrastructure, asset tracking, security and other purposes, ISG says. Many providers are also helping clients implement proofs of concept for AIOps, the emerging set of technologies that uses AI algorithms to optimize data center performance and provide analytics related to resource usage. AI-based automation is becoming increasingly important for enterprises with complex hybrid cloud environments.

The 2022 ISG Provider Lens^™ Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud — Data Center Solutions and Services Archetype report examines four different types of clients, or archetypes, that are looking for private/hybrid cloud solutions. The report evaluates the capabilities of 34 providers to deliver services to the four archetypes:

Traditional Archetype: These enterprises prefer to maintain substantial control over IT and pursue outsourcing to fill gaps in skillsets through staff augmentation. They may offload management of some of their non-mission-critical IT assets, primarily to contain costs. Typical outsourcing initiatives are small projects such as standardization or incrementally expanding virtualization. These clients evaluate providers primarily in terms of cost control.

Managed Services Archetype: These clients have experience in outsourcing data center operations and are ready to transfer more responsibility to service providers. While primarily focused on cost reduction, they are also interested in improving IT productivity through outsourcing. These organizations are seeking medium to large contracts with providers that deliver services remotely and follow secure infrastructure practices.

Transformational Archetype: These enterprises are in their second or third generation of outsourcing and looking to go further with features such as policy-based self-service provisioning. They pursue massive transformational projects with service providers that have a large scale of operations, preferring system integrators that can aggregate best-of-breed technologies into unified solutions.

Pioneering Archetype: These are enterprises at the forefront of IT management practices and have less constrained budgets than the other archetypes. They are focused on strategic initiatives to enhance business processes, such as making developers more productive through a DevOps-oriented infrastructure with programmatic capabilities. These clients are moving toward software-defined data center (SDDC) environments to achieve a public-cloud-like experience in their own data center.

Among the providers ISG evaluated, Accenture, Ensono, HCL, Infosys, TCS, Unisys and Wipro are named as Leaders across two archetypes. Atos, Capgemini, Coforge, Cognizant, Computacenter, GAVS, Hexaware, Kyndryl, LTI, Lumen, Microland, Mindtree, Mphasis, Navisite, NTT, Persistent Systems, Rackspace Technology, Tech Mahindra, UST and Zensar Technologies are named as Leaders for one archetype each.

The 2022 ISG Provider Lens^™ Next-Gen Private/Hybrid Cloud — Data Center Solutions and Services Archetype report is available to subscribers or for one-time purchase on this webpage.

About ISG Provider Lens^™ Research

The ISG Provider Lens^™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across Europe, as well as in the U.S., Canada, Brazil, the U.K., France, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, the Nordics, Australia and Singapore/Malaysia, with additional markets to be added in the future. For more information about ISG Provider Lens research, please visit this webpage.

A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offer a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.

About ISG

ISG (Information Services Group) (Nasdaq: III) is a leading global technology research and advisory firm. A trusted business partner to more than 800 clients, including more than 75 of the world’s top 100 enterprises, ISG is committed to helping corporations, public sector organizations, and service and technology providers achieve operational excellence and faster growth. The firm specializes in digital transformation services, including automation, cloud and data analytics; sourcing advisory; managed governance and risk services; network carrier services; strategy and operations design; change management; market intelligence and technology research and analysis. Founded in 2006, and based in Stamford, Conn., ISG employs more than 1,300 digital-ready professionals operating in more than 20 countries—a global team known for its innovative thinking, market influence, deep industry and technology expertise, and world-class research and analytical capabilities based on the industry’s most comprehensive marketplace data. For more information, visit www.isg-one.com.

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